Abstract

This brief aperçu recalls some keynote studies on the Grés d'Annot in the French Maritime Alps that paved the way for my involvement with these rocks in the late 1950s. At that time, the topic of gravitative flows was gaining momentum, and various theories on underwater avalanches, including turbidity currents capable of carrying coarse sand to the deep sea, had already been proposed. However, these transport processes still needed considerable clarification. Discoveries, including the identification of the sandstones as turbidites by Faure-Muret and others in 1956, were not conceived in a vacuum, but rested on many years of previous research by numerous geologists. Some of the key earlier findings are cited here. My interests then, and for several decades afterward, were focused on the broader context of sedimentary petrology, downslope-to-deep marine deposition, palaeogeography and regional structural geology pertaining to these spectacular Tertiary sequences. Now that more than 40 years have passed, I look back and can better appreciate the role of others and their influence serving as a base for my modest effort. The ‘cutting of teeth’ experiences on the Grés d'Annot were truly fortunate, not only for my early formation as a sedimentologist, but also as I have continued to pursue related and progressively more diverse activities.

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The Grès d′Annot Formation of SE France constitutes a classic and outstanding example of a sand-rich turbidite system controlled by synsedimentary tectonics, and has often been used as an outcrop analogue for deep-water hydrocarbon reservoirs. Over the last 10 years, research efforts by different academic and industrial teams have led to important reappraisals of prevailing ideas on the Gres d′Annot, particularly on the nature and controlling factors of the depositional processes, the small-scale architecture and sequence organization of the deposits, the tectonic regime of the basin and its impact on palaeogeography, and the interaction between sediment gravity flows and basin-floor topography.

This volume offers a multidisciplinary overview and draws up the ′state-of-the-art′ of scientific knowledge on this influential turbidite system. Complementary aspects are covered, from structural geology, sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy, to modelling of sedimentary processes and architectures, geochemistry, reservoir characterization, seismic modelling and uses as analogues for deep-marine hydrocarbon fields.

This book will be of use to both academic researchers (geologists and geophysicists) and industry professionals dealing with the characterization and modelling of deep-water sediments.